History of Fairfield County, Connecticut : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 11

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) comp. cn
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co.
Number of Pages: 1572

USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > History of Fairfield County, Connecticut : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 11

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" It is manifest, therefore, that any efforts having reference to the sup- pression of evils flowing from credulity, that afflict the several profes- sions, must be directed against the geuus rather than the partienlar species or variety which each presents. The mental fountain must be elarified before the Protean errors which it emanates ean be corrected. It is futile for the profession of medicino or theology, or even the politi- eal reformer, to attempt singly to combat the impostor or fanatic in the varied form which he assumes in their respective departments. He can alone successfully be encountered by the more rational of all the pro- fessions unitedly instructing the affected in a judicious exereise of their senses and reason, and the rejection of all such appeals made to their imagination, which are unsustained by evidence derived from these genorally safe guides and faithful monitors,

"It would appear that evils thus identical in their character and ori- gin ought to inspire a mutuality of interest in the suffering professions for their eradication. It is, however, a fact much to be regretted, that, whilst the influence of medical science, and generally the efforts of phy- sicians, have been applied to counteract the common maladies origiua- ting from eredulity, they have not received corresponding aid from the clerical profession, their joint sufferer from the evil. While the latter has been strenuous in its attempts to suppress the impostor and fanatic in religion, a large portion of its members have too frequently supplied their influence in aid of the quack in medicine, in his adventures for fortune upon the health and lives of the eredulous in the eomnmity.

"It is a matter of regret that men of education aud influence like thesc, who by their profession hold the exalted position of moral and religious instructors and conservators, should thus unintentionally be made instrumental in furtherance of the basely selfishi designs of the knavo and impostor in medicine, The explanation of the phenomenon may possibly be derived from the fact that their minds, through hal its aequred in their investigation of the revealed mysteries of theology, and the lialitual assent which they are accustomed to bestow, on evi- dence supplied by faith, upon the important truths which their profession requires them to teach, are moro prone than others of equal mental dis- cipline and understanding to yield their credence to the pretended mar- velous revelations of the quack ; especially when such are assumed as results of unwearied investigation into the mysteries embraced in the laws of organic structure, aud its concomitant, the vital principle.

"I am gratified, however, in expressing my eouvictiou, that far the larger portion of the more intelligent and infinentinl of this most re- spectable and useful body of our fellow-citizens are in no degree chargeable with this error of judgment regarding the merits of the medical profession, of which we complain. These have ever bestowed their individual influence in sustaining the claims which it holds upon the community for a just appreciation of its labors in its behalf. Conld their powerful influence be made available in their several public bodies, the hordes of ewpiricism would be weakened in their most important intrenchments, and the lesser positions to which they would be com- pelled to resort would enrtail their ability of inflicting the evils in which they have too long and too successfully reveled.

" I would therefore close this address, already extended beyond the limits originally designed, by the suggestion for your consideration, whether, by instituting officially joint measures (could such be effected) between clerical and medical public associations in reference to the emergency arising from the evils through which both are sufferers, they

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HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

might not be essentially lessened, if not eradicated. Could such con- certed action be effected, it is rational to hope, nay it is morally certain, that their united influence would effect much in the correction of public sentiment in its erroneous views of the obscurities which the science of each embraces. By a salutary discipline thus forcibly inculcated, there can be no doubt that the success of the impostor, both in religion and medicine, would be materially checked and his influence curtailed, if not eradicated.

" Although the views suggested may be deemed too Utopian for human nature with its existing structure, yet permit me to express the belief, that by judiciously directed concurrent efforts of the two professions, aided by the intelligent of all classes, the hydra would be effectually suppressed, and its influence, hitherto so detrimental to the advance- ment of useful science and the public welfare, would be enfeebled and powerless, by thus exhausting the aliment required to sustain its growth.

"In retiring from this presidential seat which you have successively assigned me, accept, gentlemen, my thanks for the lionor you have con- ferred, and for your indulgence of the imperfect ability which I am con- scious of living displayed in the discharge of its responsible duties. During the period of my occupancy of this station, and a long previous experience as a member of this convention, it has been my good fortune uniformly to witness a manifestation of a most harmonious and fraternal feeling among its members, amid all the discussions of the various sub- jects of legislation that have been submitted to its action. While in most deliberative bodies party or sectional interests are too prone to originate nnsocial passion, and to excite angry debate, no such exhibi- tion has here been indulged. Ou the contrary, a unity of purpose, directed solely to the advancement of the medical profession in respect- ability and usefulness, has ever signally appeared as the actuating prin- ciple governing cach of its members.

"Permit me, gentlemen, to express the hope that the same benevolent object will ever direct tbe deliberatious of all your future convocations; and also my convictions that a continuance of the same course of pru- dent legislation, that has characterized the past, will not fail progres- sively to elevate the character of the medical profession of Connecticut, to a position unsurpassed by that of its brethren of other communities, or of either of the learned professious, and where it may survey uncon- cerned the puny assaults of a reckless empiricism, which will, doubtless, long be sustained with the hope of inviting a novel-loving public to contribnte aid for the promotion of its interest and aggrandizement.

" I cannot, gentlemen, in justice to my feelings, close without express- ing the deep sense with which I am impressed by the recent event which has deprived the medical profession of several of its shining ornaments, as well as this society of two of its most active, respectable, and efficient members. ·

"I presume that, in common with myself, there are members of this body who anticipated a cordial and friendly greeting with our esteemed friends and colleagues, who have now retired from all earthly scenes, but whom a few days since we had apparent reason to believe little short of a grave providential dispensation would be likely to deprive us of their presence. Their visages in our hall of convocatiou havo been, heretofore, nearly as familiar as its fixtures by which we are sur- rounded, and there are recollections thius made vivid, which are pecu- liarly calculated to add deeper poignancy to the event which we doubt- less all in common deplore.

"From the one, Dr. Samuel Beach,* selected at our last annual meeting as Dissertator, we had the apparent good reason to expect an interesting and instructive communication. But in this our hopes are annihilated, and it is becoming in us devoutly to submit to the act of superior wisdom which has interposed and frustrated our cherished expectations. Of the character of Dr. Beach as a citizen, a physician, and frieud, I cannot re- frain from the remark that, during a long experience of friendly and intimate iutercourse, I have ever found him uniform iu the exercise of the qualities of an honest man, a gentleman, and a philanthropist; while as a member of the Medical Society and profession, it is no dispar- agement to any of its members to say that in zeal for the promotion of their interests and prosperity he was surpassed by none.

"Of Dr. Archibald Welch, surrounded as I am by his friends and neighboring brethren, and in consequence of the position which he has long held in this Convention as a member, as having fulfilled various official duties in its connection, including those of the occupancy of the

chair, my attempt at his eulogy is rendered unnecessary. Personally, however, I am inclined to state that during an acquaintance of more than a quarter of a century, I have uniformly had occasion to admire his characteristic urbanity and gentlemanly deportment, and for a number of years, being officially associated with him in the discharge of public professional duties, I have experienced the benefits of his valuable friendship and more intimate social intercourse. Generally, I do not hesitate to add that as an example of zeal for the furtberance of the interests of the profession lie has left no superior.

"But an afflictive Providence has interposed and the cherished hopes of future interviews with me, and with you, are thus abruptly termi- nated. It only remains therefore for us to emulate the worthy example which may be derived from the lives of the individuals whose career on earth has been so suddenly arrested.

" While, then, in common with their families and numerous circles of friends, we deplore the loss inflicted by the awful event, let us profession- ally improve the admonition, that the guardians of life are, alike with their charge, subject to the various forms of death which their vocation calls upon them to combat; and that on separating at the close of our annual convocations, no eye but that of an inscrutable Providence can designate those from our number, whose linesments will cease to ani- mate us in future asseniblages, but iu the reminiscence inspired by their virtues which survive them."

To Maj. L. N. Middlebrook, commissioner in bank- ruptcy for Fairfield County, the grandson of one of its "original subscribers" referred to by Dr. Blakeman, one whom it was his intention to memorialize in his address, I am indebted for the following sketches of three members of the Middlebrook family :

STEPHEN MIDDLEBROOK, M.D., a son of Stephen Middlebrook, a Revolutionary patriot and one of the Revolutionary Committee of Safety in Fairfield County, was born Dec. 8, 1755, in the parish of North Stratford, in the then town of Stratford, but now the village of Long Hill, town of Trumbull. He received his medieal education, as was not unusually the cus- tom in those days, through a due course of study and practice with other physicians of the county, being admitted to full practice on examination by, and a certifieate of qualifieation from, a standing committee of reputable physicians constituted for that purpose, these being the only facilities available in Connecti- eut at that early day for instruetion in and admission to the medical profession. His classieal studies were pursued in part under the private tuition of tlie cele- brated William Samuel Johnson, LL.D., of Stratford, and in part in the academical institutions of the eounty,-among others the academy at Easton. He established himself in his native town, and became one of the most suceessful practitioners of his day in this and the adjoining counties, aeeumulating there- from what was regarded as a large fortune in those times. He manifested his love for the profession by training two of his three sons to the same honorable calling. He filled many positions of honor and trust in his town and eounty. He died Dec. 18, 1819, and is buried in the cemetery at Long Hill, Trumbull.

So great was his love for his ehosen profession that he endeavored to have his three sons-Elijah, Ste- phen, and Robert-follow the path in which he had walked so long. He was only two-thirds successful, Robert rebelling and spending his life in farming. Elijah was one of those referred to by Dr. Blakeman in his address,-a master-spirit of the profession, by

* Dr. Beach was a victim of the accident on the New York and New Haven Railroad disaster at the Norwalk Bridge. He practiced in Bridge- port.

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MEDICAL HISTORY.

whose unremitted labors in his cra of professional history the improvements in the profession were ef- fected.

ELIJAH MIDDLEBROOK, M.D., eldest son of Dr. Stephen Middlebrook and Amer Beach Middlebrook, daughter of Elijah Beach, of Trumbull, an officer of the Revolutionary army, was born at Long Hill, now in the town of Trumbull, Oct. 20, 1785. He pursued his medical studies with his father, and was licensed to practice medicine by the Connecticut Medical So- ciety in 1811. He afterwards took a further two years' course of instruction in the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City, and graduated from that institution in 1813. He thereupon entered active practice in his native town in company with his father, and was an active practitioner for forty-five years, meeting with great success. He died Jan. 2, 1859, and is buried in the cemetery at Long Hill. For fifty-four years he edited and published annually his celebrated "Middlebrook's New England Alına- nac," -- a period of editorial labor, as devoted by the same individual to the same publication, believed to be wellnigh without a parallel in the history of pe- riodical literature. He was fitted for this special work under the private tuition of Prof. Nehemiah Strong, of Yale College. He was among the most genial of men and an enthusiast in his profession. He always strove to elevate and dignify his calling, and was an active and zealous laborer in the various national and State organizations instituted to that end, always being present at their meetings. His name appears oftener than any other on the records of the Fairfield County Medical Society. He filled many civil and political offices of honor and trust. He was elected president of the Connecticut Medical Society in 1841, re-elected in 1842, and resigned the office in 1843. He was the first representative of the Fairfield County Medical Society to the National Medical Society.

Some idea of the extent of his practice may be formed when we know that his powers of curing were considered as almost infallible. So much was he sought that he regularly employed two or three younger physicians to assist him, making them proxies. One of them asserts that the average busi- ness done by himself alone while thus employed aver- aged three hundred dollars per month.

The following relic is left of the business-like way of his dealings. It is a bill of Dr. Hulbert's, of Fair- field, one of the " original subscribers," and explains itself :

" Israel Ilawley to Hosea Hulbert, Dr. "(at the request of Dr. Middlebrooks).

"1801, Sept. To Visit and Consultation with sd Doctor for your Son .. $1 " Recd the above Amt of Dr. Middlebrook.

"IIOSEA HULBERT."

The many subscribers to "Middlebrook's New Eng- land Almanac" will be more interested in this receipt from Prof. Nehemiah Strong:

" Received of Elijah Middlebrooks nine shillings In Part of 36 Shll- lings Due to me for instructing him in Astronomy 12 weeks at 3s. per week.

"Received by me, " NEHEMIAH STRONG.

"BRIDGEPORT, DECEME", 8tl1, 1804."

On the opposite side of the slip is the acknowledg- ment of the remainder :

" DEC'R. 10th, 1804.

" Received twenty-seven shillings of Mr. Stephen Middle Brooks, which with the Nine Shillings I received on the other side is the whole of my demands for Teaching his Son in the Science of Astronomy.

" per me NEH. STRONG."

Professor Strong is buried in the old ground at Stratfield, near the entrance.

STEPHEN MIDDLEBROOK, M.D., another son of Dr. Stephen Middlebrook, first above named, was born in Long Hill, town of Trumbull, then in the town of Stratford. He was located by his father in the town of Monroe at Edwards' Four Corners, and there prac- ticed medicine for about twenty-five years, and al- though a very skillful and popular physician, yet having a strong aversion to the discomforts necessa- rily incident to an active practice, he retired from the profession in middle life, and passed the remainder of his days in leisure, in his native village, where he died Oct. 18, 1850, aged fifty-four years, and was buried in the cemetery in Long Hill.

THE HOMEOPATHY practice is also worthily repre- sented in Fairfield County. The practitioners of this school are William B. Beebe, B. F. Bronson, L. H. Norton, Charles E. Sanford, and L. M. Benedict, Bridgeport; W. E. Bulkley, S. Penfield, and A. Griffin, Danbury ; James H. Brush and L. P. Jones, Greenwich; Theodore Roberts and Eli Acker, New Canaan ; G. S. Comstock and Dexter Hitchcock, Nor- walk; Chauncey M. Ayres, George F. Foote, and J. F. Griffin, Stamford; G. W. Collard, of Stratford.

ECLECTIC PHYSICIANS, J. W. King, T. A. Shat- tuck, J. D. S. Smith, Joseph Fanyon, Bridgeport ; E. A. Brown, Danbury; Cooke, C. C., New Canaan ; Henry L. Malloy, Sherman; George W. Rubey, of Westport.

BOTANICAL, H. M. Richardson, Bridgeport.

INDIAN, G. C. Richards, of Danbury.

DAVID HULL NASH .- It is always a pleasure for the historian to place upon his pages passing inci- dents in the life of one who has devoted his life-study to the advancement of a noble profession and to the amelioration of the human race. Such a one is Dr. David Hull Nash, the subject of this sketch. He was born on Greenfield Hill, in this county, March 21, 1811, and is the son of Dr. W. B. Nash and Rutha M. El- liott, daughter of the sterling old patriot, Andrew Elliott, who was pastor of the Congregational Church of Fairfield when the town was burned by the British in 1779 .*

Dr. W. B. Nash was born in Westport, Conn., and

* Seo History of Fairfiell.

HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

commenced practice in Greenfield, and from there re- moved to Fairfield and formed a copartnership with the late David Hull. Here he remained until 1825, when he came to Bridgeport, and continued in prac- tice until his death, which occurred Dec. 9, 1872, in the cighty-seventh year of his age.

David H. was educated at the Fairfield Academy and in the schools of this city, and commenced the study of his profession in the office of his father, who was then in active practice. He subsequently con- tinued his studies under the instruction of Eli and N. B. Ives, leading physicians in the city of New Haven. He also attended medical college at New Haven, from which he graduated in 1834. In the following year, 1835, he commenced practice with his father, under the firm-name of William B. Nash & Son, which partnership continued until July 1, 1853, when he associated with him Dr. Robert Hubbard. The firm of Nash & Hubbard existed until Jan. 1, 1871, since which time he has continued in the practice alone. Hence it will be seen that Dr. Nash has been in the active practice of his profession for nearly half a eentury.

He has always taken a lively interest in every measure tending to advance the interest of the pro- fession generally, and is a member of the county, State, and United States medical societics.

Politically, Dr. Nash is a Republican, and an earnest advocate of the principles of that party. He was previously a Whig. Religiously, the doctor is a Congregationalist, and a member of the North Church, in this city.

Jan. 6, 1836, le united in marriage with Susan E., daughter of the late Jesse Sterling, and their family consists of Andrew Eliot and Jesse S., both of whom reside in Bridgeport. The eldest son, William S., is deceased.

Dr. Nash has a large and lucrative practice, and ranks among the leading physicians in the State. Although now nearly seventy years of age, he retains in a remarkable degree the vigor and elasticity of youth, and daily may be seen visiting his numerous patients, his interest never waning in that noble pro- fession to which he has devoted a long and active earcer.

AMBROSE BEARDSLEY, M.D .- The subject of this sketch was born in the town of Monroe, Oct. 23, 1811. His father, Elihu Beardsley, a thrifty farmer of his native town, was a descendant of William Beardsley, one of the first settlers of Stratford, in Fairfield Co., Conn. The Beardsley family were for many years very numerous in Monroe, where they wielded a good deal of influence in the affairs of the town. Ambrose had three brothers; one of whom-to wit, the Rev. E. E. Beardsley, D.D., LL.D .- is an author of considerable eminence in matters of church history. Agar Beards- ley is a farmer upon the homestead land, while Rufus, the fourth of the sons, is dead. There were also two girls in the family, both of whom are still living.

Ambrose, the subject of this sketch, "roughed it" on the farm until he was sixteen, when having, by an industrious economy of time and his naturally studious habits, fitted himself for school-teaching, he, at this early age, tried the hazardous experiment of playing the schoolmaster to his late companions in his native town, and with such success that he was engaged for several successive seasons in the neighboring town of Redding. When, at length, he decided to abandon the birch and the ferule, he had by odds and ends, in one way and another, managed to pick up a consider- able knowledge of the classics (though with little or no instruction, for, in the days of our fathers, "book- larnin' " for farmers' sons was not held in high es- teem), and becoming convinced that his pathway of life did not lic in the trail of the plow, he chose for his profession the study and the practice of medicine. Accordingly, after following a course of study under the eminent Dr. Willard Parker, now of New York, he entered the Pittsfield Medical College, where, in December, 1834, he graduated with the first honors of his class. Locating in Newtown, Conn., he practiced in his profession successfully until September, 1836, when he accepted an invitation to locate in the then infant village of Birmingham, in the town of Derby, where he has ever since devoted his time and his talents-of which he has many-to the sick and the suffering for many miles around, almost reverenced by many and greatly beloved by all. Courteous and affable in his manners, prepossessing in his personal presence, Dr. Beardsley has won for himself an envi- able reputation as a physician and surgeon.

Not only has he been prominent in his profession, but our now venerable friend has filled many official po- sitions in his adopted towu. For twenty-five consecu- tive years he was the treasurer of the town of Derby ; for four years president of the Derby Savings Bank ; nine years warden of the borough of Birmingham ; besides many other miuor offices of profit and trust, all of which positions he has ever occupied with credit to himself and to the entire satisfaction of the people, as is evidenced by the fact that wheu nomiuated for any office in the gift of the people " the old doctor" is never beaten.

Dr. Beardsley, early in life, was fond of debate aud controversy, aud, being a young man of bright abili- ties, he was always foremost in lyceum debates, etc., and it is to this sort of training that le attributes his success as a flueut speaker, as he unquestionably is upon almost any topic that he chooses to take up. Upon almost every public occasion within the last forty-four years in Derby, Dr. Beardsley has been a conspicuous actor and speaker. Within the limits of the town there is no man living who has delivered so many orations, lectures; and impromptu addresses as he, and always to the acceptance and gratification of his audience.

Always too much in love with his profession and too faithful to his patients to engage in State politics,

E PBennete

MEDICAL HISTORY.

he has yet at home been prominent as a Republican (though never a candidate for outside honors, which he might easily have obtained had le so desired), up to the nomination of Horaee Greeley, when, with that noble philosophier and excellent American, he "went West," politically, from which journey and its effects he seems not to have sufficiently recovered to enable him to again take part, to auy great extent, in local politics. During the late eivil war Dr. Beardsley was ever an ardent Unionist, contributing often far above his means to the support of the soldiers in the field. In 18- he was married to Mary Bassett, the daughter of Samuel Bassett, Esq., late of Seymour, Conn., by whom he had two children, one of whom, Capt. A. E. Beardsley,-still living,-was a brave and a valuable soldier in the "Twentieth Connecticut." The other, Mary, wife of Dr. T. B. Jewett, is now deceased.

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History of Fairfield County, Connecticut : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 11

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) comp. cn Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co. Number of Pages: 1572

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) comp. cn
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co.
Number of Pages: 1572